Montenegro's four signposted panoramic roads

Montenegro has an idea I really like, signposted scenic routes for anyone who wants to see the country from the car without planning every bend. The National Tourism Organisation has marked four, from 65 to 800 km, with numbered brown signs, and publishes descriptions, GPS tracks and audio guides. Here’s each one, and which I’d tackle first.

The Durmitor Ring, 76 km

The Durmitorski prsten is a loop out of Žabljak through Mala Crna Gora, Nedajno, Trsa and Pišće. The National Tourism Organisation sells it as a drive among oddly sculpted peaks and the canyons of the Tara and the Sušica, with mountain villages cut off for part of the year and a ski area along the way. It also mentions a nice puzzle, that nobody agrees whether Durmitor comes from the Italian dormire or a Celtic phrase. For me it’s the best of the four, short and without a dull kilometre. The park itself is in Durmitor.

The Circle around Korita, 65 km from Podgorica

The easiest to fit in if you’re staying in the capital. It runs from Podgorica to Medun, Ubli, Kučka Korita, Zatrijebac and Fundina, and back. On the way are the fortress of Medun and the museum of Marko Miljanov, the hero and writer who, the National Tourism Organisation says, only learnt to read in his fifties. The Grlo sokolovo viewpoint looks out over Prokletije and the Cijevna canyon, right on the Albanian border.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Žabljak before prices climb.

Sea and Heights, 283 km

This is the coast with its hinterland. It starts in Herceg Novi, crosses on the Kamenari ferry, runs through Risan, Kotor and Tivat, climbs to Lovćen and Cetinje, drops to Budva, Sveti Stefan and Petrovac, reaches Lake Skadar at Virpazar and Ostros, and ends at Ulcinj and Bar. The National Tourism Organisation suggests taking your time, stopping at the bay’s shellfish farms, the wines of the Crmnica villages and the museums of Cetinje. If you’re touring the coast you’ll drive much of it anyway, and I’ve folded it into a Montenegro road trip.

The Crown of Montenegro, 800 km

The big northern circuit, and the least travelled. The National Tourism Organisation talks of three national parks, two nature reserves and a World Heritage Site along the way, of life in the katuns, the herders’ summer settlements, and of places like Čakor, Mokra, Cmiljevica and Hajla. It’s a multi-day trip for those in no hurry.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Žabljak and choose by the reviews.

Before you go

The National Tourism Organisation is clear on one point. Big campers and nervous drivers should give them a miss, it says, and one look at the terrain explains why. Check the rules in driving in Montenegro and choose your season with care, as the north gets snow in winter.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Žabljak before prices climb.